European stocks decline ahead of central bank meetings

European stocks opened slightly lower today, Monday, after sharp gains last week, as investors await a week full of central bank meetings in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain, and the United States to make decisions on interest rates.

According to Reuters, the European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.2% by 0705 GMT due to a decline in shares of the health care sectors and technology companies that are sensitive to interest rates.

Attention this week will focus on global central banks, and the Bank of England is likely to raise interest rates for the fifteenth time later in the week, and the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) also appears ready to temporarily stop raising interest rates.

Nordic Semiconductor’s shares fell nearly 14 percent after the company lowered its third-quarter profit expectations.

Slavomir Krupa, the new CEO of Société Générale, pledged to cut costs to boost profits by 2026 in light of stagnant sales, in his first strategic plan for the third largest listed bank in France, which led to the stock falling 5.9%.